


Boys will be bugs

by ThatRingsABelle



Category: Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, Bodyswap, Dream Smp, Family Dynamics, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Realistic Minecraft, Sleepybois au, everyone has powers, i wanted a break from writing angst, no respawning tho, only slightly, sleepybois, this is pretty lighthearted tbh, two betas we live like king eret
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-13
Updated: 2021-02-08
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:20:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 8,807
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28039065
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThatRingsABelle/pseuds/ThatRingsABelle
Summary: Tommy and Tubbo wake up one morning and find out they’ve switched. Shenanigans ensue.
Relationships: Clay | Dream & Toby Smith | Tubbo, Clay | Dream & TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF), Dave | Technoblade & Toby Smith | Tubbo & Wilbur Soot & TommyInnit & Phil Watson, Dave | Technoblade & TommyInnit, No Romantic Relationship(s), Toby Smith | Tubbo & Phil Watson, Toby Smith | Tubbo & TommyInnit, Toby Smith | Tubbo & Wilbur Soot, TommyInnit & Phil Watson (Video Blogging RPF), Wilbur Soot & TommyInnit, pretty much everyone interacts idk what to tell you
Comments: 59
Kudos: 732





	1. Freaky Saturday

**Author's Note:**

> I’m really excited to be writing a multichapter fic cause I haven’t in a while :)

The first thing Tommy remembered that morning was a loud beeping filling his ears.

But that wasn't strange, that happened every morning.

The strange thing is, immediately afterward, he slammed his hand into a wall.

He yelled in pain, completely confused as to why he'd just punched a wall. 

He sat up.

The room was backwards. 

Wait.

It only took him a second to realise the room wasn't backwards, but in fact, he was in Tubbo's bed.

That was... odd.

But it did make sense as to why his hand had immediately hit the wall, Tubbo's bed was on the opposite side of the room, so Tommy was used to reaching for his phone on the other side.

He turned to the right and grabbed Tubbo's phone to switch off the alarm. 

He looked over at his own bed, to see a human sized lump under the covers.

Had they swapped beds overnight? Why would they? It wasn't making any sense.

He swung his legs over the side of the bed, and stumbled forwards, still not completely awake.

His blood ran cold.

He'd shrunk. 

What the fuck?

He looked down, and panicked even more.

This wasn't his body.

He ran to the mirror, and stared in shock as Tubbo stared back.

"Shit!"

He heard a groan coming from his bed.

He snapped his head towards the cover.

Wait, if he was Tubbo, then-

He saw himself sit up and look at him.

He screamed.

Himself screamed back.

They stared at each other for a few seconds.

"...Tubbo?"

He saw his own eyes widen in realisation.

"Tommy?"

"What the fuck is happening?"

"Wh...what... so you also just woke up like this?"

"Yes! About two minutes ago."

"Holy... holy shit" he watched as Tubbo curled into a ball.

"We... what the fuck..." Tommy started pacing, unsure of what to think. Was he dreaming?

Just then, Wilbur opened the door.

He watched them both for a moment.

"You've switched."

Tommy spun around to face his brother, completely in awe. How the fuck did he know that?

"What?" 

"Well it's just that Tommy usually paces, and Tubbo bites his nails."

Tommy looked over to Tubbo who sure enough, had his thumbnails between his teeth.

"Tubbo! Stop biting my nails!" Tommy yelled.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Wilbur take a step back in shock.

Tommy looked at him again, seeing his eyes darting between the two of them, slowly calculating.

"...What the fuck did you two do?"

"We didn't do anything!" Tommy shouted back, why did Wilbur always assume the worst of them?

"But, you woke up as each other?" Wilbur asked.

"Yes." Tommy and Tubbo answered in unison.

"...You know what? I'm not buying it."

"Wilbur!" Tommy yelled.

"You wanna know why I'm not buying it? Because you always do this type of shit."

"Oh really? Name one time."

"That time you tried to convince us you'd figured out your power was electricity when really it was Tubbo behind the TV turning the switch on and off." 

"...touché" 

There was a silence for a moment as they all tried to figure out what they could even say in a situation like this. 

"Look, I don't believe you, but if you wanna try and convince me, be my guest."

Tubbo spoke up.

"You're the only one who knows I was the one who broke Phil's #1 dad mug when I was washing up and Tommy got the blame." Tubbo said it all in one breath.

"You WHAT?"

Wilbur stared at them both.

"...Well, that's sold it, how the fuck did you two switch bodies?"

"Sorry, can we go back to the fact that I got into trouble for something _Tubbo_ broke?" Tommy raised his hand trying to get their attention.

"Like we told you, we woke up like this." Tubbo said slowly.

"Really?" Wilbur asked, his eyebrows raised.

"Yes!" Tubbo was getting increasingly exasperated.

"I remember that mug, I thought Techno had broken it." Tommy thought aloud.

"Look, first, it was two years ago, Tommy, get over it, second I don't care what you did, I just need to know so I can help."

"We didn't do anything though!" Tommy was nearly shouting again.

"...you guys know you can tell me anything, right?"

"Wilbur!"

"Right, fine, you've miraculously somehow woken up as each other through no fault of your own... sure, whatever."

"So, how do we fix it?" 

"I'm not sure... maybe Phil or Techno would know." 

"We can't tell Phil!"

Both Tommy and Wilbur turned around to stare at Tubbo, he looked at the ground.

"Phil's already under so much stress, what with Techno going world exploring and me kinda figuring out my power, I just- I don't want to put this on him as well. We can figure this out ourselves, yeah?"

Another silence was held in the air.

"Well I suppose you two could try getting through the weekend, and if it's not gone by Sunday night, I'm telling Phil, cause he deserves to know." 

"Yeah... yeah, okay we can do that, it can't be that hard."

~~~

The three of them walked into the kitchen, trying to act as natural as possible while Phil was in the room, typing something on his laptop.

Tommy immediately headed towards the toaster, almost by instinct at this point, before Wilbur placed his hands on his shoulders and steered him towards the cereal cupboard. 

Right, he was Tubbo, he had to try and remember that. 

He walked up to the cupboard and started pouring himself some cereal, just as Tubbo would do. 

He looked back at Wilbur, who seemed to be watching both of them intently, Tommy bit his lip and turned back to pouring the milk.

"Ah!" Tommy snapped his head in the direction of his own voice, where Tubbo had jumped at the toaster popping up, and time slowed down.

He saw Tubbo's arm knock his plate off the counter, and watched as it plummeted towards the ground.

Before either of them could do anything, the plate stopped falling mid-air. They watched as an invisible hand lifted it up and placed it back on the counter-top.

Tommy turned to Wilbur, and thanked whoever was up there that they gave him telekinesis.

All three of them glanced at Phil, who luckily hadn't noticed anything since he had his headphones in. 

Tommy sighed, the less attention they brought to themselves, the better.

After Tubbo and Tommy had their breakfasts ready, they walked into the living room and sat down. There was silence as they ate.

"What about Dream?" Tubbo spoke up after a while.

"What about him?"

"He's smart, do you think he'd be able to help us with this?"

Tommy thought for a second, Dream did have a lot of experience with magic shit.

"Yeah, I guess it wouldn't hurt to ask." Tommy shrugged.

"I mean it's our best shot, right?"


	2. Haha dream team go brrrr

Tommy hesitated before reaching up and knocking on the door three times, he put his hand to his side and waited.

And waited.

Tubbo looked down at him, and back at the door. He slowly reached up and knocked again.

This time, they heard some shuffling going on behind the door, and after a few moments, it opened, revealing a crudely drawn smiley face on a ceramic white mask.

"Tommy. Tubbo."

Tommy sighed.

"I'm Tommy, that's Tubbo." He gestured towards where Tubbo's face would usually be, before he remembered they now had an opposite height difference, and raised his hand accordingly.

Dream took a sip from his mug and looked back at them. He took a long sigh.

"Prove it."

The frustration bubbling in Tommy's chest blew up like an explosion.

"Prove it?! What do you fucking mean fucking prove it you son of a bitch?! We're having a fucking crisis and you have the nerve to say "oh, prove it" fuck you, you little green bitchboy! "Prove it"? That doesn't even-"

"Yup, that's Tommy, come in."

Tommy's ranting faded out, and he and Tubbo looked at each other, both not completely sure of what just happened.

They followed Dream inside, and sat down on his couch. Tommy looked around, not sure whether he'd ever been in Dream's house before. 

It was definitely clear they spent more time outside than in, because the decoration was very minimal, and the house itself was rather small. There were two couches pointed towards the tv, although one was more worn down, clearly used more than the other, and an open plan kitchen, with a white breakfast bar sticking out into the middle of the room. It appeared to be all one floor, as there were four doors leaving the room, (excluding the one they just came through) one for each member of "The Dream Team" as they called themselves, and one for the bathroom.

"So," Dream started, "What did you two do?"

Tommy and Tubbo both sighed.

"We didn't do anything, we woke up like this." Tommy explained, trying not to get too frustrated. 

Dream tilted his head. "Oh come on, you expect me to believe that?"

"Yes we do, Dream!" Tommy added his name for emphasis.

"It's you two, there's no way you didn't cause this." 

"But we didn't!" Tubbo complained loudly.

"Fine, you didn't, then how did it happen?"

"Dream? What the fuck it's like 9am...?" 

Sapnap came stumbling out of his room, in pyjamas with little flames on them, which Tommy thought was a bit on the nose, since he was holding a small ball of flames in his hand to light the way.

"It's not my fault you sleep through everything- Sapnap!"

Sapnap had walked into the sunlight streaming through the windows, and subsequently shielded his eyes with his palm suddenly turned toward the curtains. The flame ball shot away from his hand and the curtains burst into flames.

Tommy and Tubbo both scrambled off the couch and backed away, but Dream just sighed.

"George!" He called into the next room. "Sapnap, come on man, we've talked about this."

"Sorry... it's not on purpose."

The fire was now starting to spread up the curtains at an alarming rate.

It was at this point that George also came out of his room and saw the situation at hand. 

He shot a water beam onto the fire and it quickly doused the flames, making a loud sizzling sound. Smoke rose up and began to dance along the ceiling.

George walked over to the now charred curtains.

"Sapnap! Really? That's five times in three months, you've got to get it together."

Sapnap glared at him.

"You can't talk, remember that time you flooded the bathroom? That water damage cost us way more than any flaming curtains have!" 

"Yeah but that was one time-!"

Dream stepped in between them.

"Guys, guys! We have guests." He nodded towards Tubbo and Tommy awkwardly pressed into the corner. 

George and Sapnap both looked at them, and there was an uncomfortable silence for a moment. Tubbo was the first one to speak up.

"Dream, correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems like you only live together so when he" he pointed at Sapnap, "starts fires, he" he pointed to George, "can put them out and you're" he gestured towards Dream, "here to make sure they don't rip each other apart in the process."

Dream looked at his two friends.

"Well yeah, but it's also cause we love each other, right guys?"

George and Sapnap both shrugged, made some indecipherable noises and headed back into their bedrooms.

"You can't tell but I'm rolling my eyes." Dream said as the two stepped away from the wall.

"You know Dream, we came to you for help and you're not being very helpful right now." Tubbo crossed his arms as Tommy snorted with laughter.

"Yeah, Dream! Help us!" Tommy added for support, also crossing his arms. For a second, he almost forgot why they were there, it was like they'd swapped back for a moment.

Dream shook his head, laughing. "You two are so annoying." He paused to think. "You know, Bad might know something about this..." 

"Badboyhalo? Perfect, where is he?" Tommy asked, a bubble of hope rising in his chest.

Dream grimaced, "That's the problem, he's off exploring with Skeppy."

Both teens visibly deflated at his words, their hopes getting raised and squashed in a matter of seconds.

"But it's okay, he'll be back... within a couple of days."

"Days? We don't have days, Dream." Tommy huffed, his hope being replaced with spite.

"Wait, why not?" 

"Well first we don't want Phil to find out, and second we have school on Monday, we can't go like this." Tubbo explained, since Tommy was just staring at the floor.

"Oh yeah... you're lucky this happened on a Saturday then."

Tommy glared at Dream, who took a step back.

"Oh wow I'm not used to getting a death stare from Tubbo... that's unnerving." Dream muttered, looking between them both, getting a deadpan look in return. "Listen, I can try and contact him, but I offer no promises."

"So, basically, you're useless." Real Tubbo asked, his arms still crossed.

"Yeah! Bitch!" Tommy added, laughing again.

Dream sighed.

"Yeah, I guess you could put it like that." 

"We have to go talk to Wilbur then." Tommy concluded, uncrossing his arms.

"Why?" Dream asked in response.

"Wilbur said we had until Sunday before he was gonna tell Phil." Tubbo explained.

"But it's fine, he'll be easy to convince, I mean, how hard can it be?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ty for the comments on the last chapter!! It actually motivated me to post this one ffbfhfbdhg <3


	3. A wild foxboy appears

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FUNDY WOOOOOO

"No."

"Wilbur!"

"I've made myself clear and I'm not going back on that, plus, there's no way I'd let you guys go to school like this." Wilbur crossed his arms, and it was definitely clear he was a big brother.

"You're a bitch." Tommy responded as he fell into one of the kitchen chairs.

"I mean... if you tell me how you got into this..."

"We didn't get into this!" 

"Okay, I guess you're still saying that." Wilbur answered as he walked out the room, Tommy glared after him. 

He tapped his nails on the table, trying to think of what they could do next to try and get rid of their situation.

There was a knock at the door.

Tommy and Tubbo looked at each other, narrowing their eyes in confusion.

Tommy, who was closest to the door, got up and opened it. Phil walked into the room as he did.

"Hiya Tubbo, you ready?" Fundy stood in the doorway, the yellow on his cap shimmering in the sunlight and his ears twitching at every sound he heard. Tommy froze for a moment, still not used to being addressed as Tubbo.

"Uhh," Tommy replied, looking round the room for an answer, Tubbo seemed to be trying to tell him something with his eyes, but he couldn't work out what, "yep! I'm ready!" 

He hoped that was the right answer.

"Great, let's go!" Fundy started to walk off and as Tommy turned around to close the door behind him, he saw Tubbo looking the most alarmed he'd seen him all day. That wasn't good.

Phil gave him a little wave, he waved back as he shut the door and ran slightly to catch up with Fundy. He looked up at him, not enjoying the now prevalent height difference.

"So, uh, where're we going?" 

Fundy side-eyed him.

"The woods, obviously."

"Oh yeah, obviously."

He couldn't quite work out what was obvious about it, but if they were going to the woods, maybe they were just hanging out.

They walked for a couple minutes, past everyone else's houses, and through the border, which meant it was possible for mobs attack them, but it wasn't likely since it was day. Tubbo and Tommy weren't allowed out here alone, especially at night, but they definitely bended that rule sometimes.

They arrived at the edge of the woods, and Fundy turned to face him.

"Right, so I was thinking we could just pick up where we left off?"

"With what?"

"Shapeshifting...? Tubbo, are you okay?"

Shit. Of course. He was dumb.

How could he forget? Tubbo's shapeshifting lesson.

It had all started about a month ago, when Tommy had forced Tubbo to watch a horror movie with him, and Tubbo had got jump-scared so bad he disappeared.

He hadn't quite disappeared, but Tommy definitely thought he had, and he freaked the fuck out. Tubbo soon reappeared, but not before Tommy had got the whole family in the room, and was close to hysterics.

"I was really small, and I could fly, and there was this weird buzzing in my head." Tubbo explained, but it still wasn't clear to Tommy what had happened. It was only when Phil sent Wilbur next door to get Fundy, that Tommy worked out what was going on.

An odd couple days had then followed on, with Tubbo being the main focus of the entire smp, which Tommy was fine with, Tubbo definitely deserved it, he just wished he could've known his ability too, that was all.

But that did raise an interesting question, could Tommy use Tubbo's power? Would Tubbo be able to use his, if they knew what it was? 

If he had one.

He snapped back to reality, where a concerned Fundy was still staring at him.

"Yeah, sorry, I'm just tired."

"Oh, okay, that's alright... anyway, remember what I was telling you last week?"

"Uhh, would you mind going over that one more time?"

Fundy sighed, before he started pacing slowly.

"Shifting isn't an action, it's a feeling, you have to fully occupy the mindset of the animal you wanna be, remember?"

"Right..." he was lucky Tubbo hadn't shifted since the horror movie incident, because he didn't understand any of that.

"So, when I wanna go full fox, I have to think in the mind of a fox, right?"

"Uh, could you show me?" Tommy asked eagerly, it was always cool to see his friends show off their powers, plus he was trying to kill as much time as possible before Fundy asked him to try and shift.

"Uh, sure, one sec." Fundy stopped pacing and stood opposite Tommy, bouncing on the balls of his feet as though he was about to jump.

In an instant, a small fox appeared on the ground in front of him in Fundy's place, and started trotting around the small forest clearing. Tommy smiled slightly, he'd seen Fundy in fox form many times, but it was still pretty awesome.

After a minute, Fundy reappeared, though keeping the fox ears and tail as always, he only ever got rid of them if he went into the human world.

"Like that." He said, straightening his cap, he was breathing rather heavily, as though he'd just run a marathon. 

Tommy nodded, he was always impressed when someone had mastered their power.

"Okay, now you try."

This was the part he was dreading.

He stood up straight, like he'd seen Fundy do, and shut his eyes tight like he was concentrating.

"Focus on what you wanna be, picture it in your head."

Tommy figured he might as well try, he was in Tubbo's body right now, it was worth a shot. 

He shut his eyes tighter. He tried his best to focus on a bee, since he knew that was Tubbo's favourite animal.

It took about twenty seconds before he opened them again.

"Oh come on, you hardly tried, Tubbo."

"I did! I just... it's hard." Tommy said as he shut his eyes again, concentrating.

He felt a pull in his gut. 

That was weird.

"Come on, Tubbo, I know you can do this."

He opened his eyes.

"How?" He asked hesitantly.

"You know how. Because you've done it before."

Tommy felt his stomach drop.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Idk if I’m gonna explain this in the story so smp stands for “settlement of magic protection” in this au
> 
> Also !! The title kinda makes more sense now!! Yay !!
> 
> I have like 7 of these pre-written and I’m kinda struggling with how long


	4. manhunt tips

"Tubbo? You okay?" Fundy took a step towards him, after he'd been staring at the ground for a minute.

Why hadn't Tubbo told him? They usually told each other everything, and this was _big_. 

Did he not trust Tommy? Why didn't he want him to know? 

"Tubbo?" 

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine." Tommy answered, a bit too sharply for Tubbo.

Fundy narrowed his eyes at him, and Tommy realised he wasn't playing the part at all.

"Sorry, I'm just tired, can I go home?" He asked, deciding he needed to leave. Fast.

"Yeah, okay, get some rest, Tubbo." Fundy spoke skeptically as he started to walk Tommy back to the border.

Tommy followed, thoughts still racing. 

They slowly approached the camp, even though Tommy probably shouldn't call it that anymore. He probably should've stopped once people had actual houses, but even though they'd been there for years, he never stopped thinking of it as a temporary thing.

He waved goodbye to Fundy as they both went their separate ways, and quick-walked to the house.

After he was safely home he made a beeline towards the living room, because it was the most likely place for Tubbo to be. 

Sure enough, Tubbo was crossed-legged on the couch, playing some random game on his laptop. (No one took any notice, Tommy regularly stole Tubbo's things.)

Tommy went to open his mouth, before he noticed Wilbur sitting in an armchair in the corner, and decided to slowly sit on the other end of the couch instead. Wilbur looked up to acknowledge his presence and soon went back to reading.

Tommy looked around the room as he wondered how to approach the situation.

He could ask Tubbo later, when it was just them in their room, and that would be ideal as he could slowly build up to it and no one would interrupt them. But then again he didn't know if he even wanted to bring it up, it might just cause more problems while they were already in an impossible situation.

Phil poked his head into the room.

"Wil? It's Techno." 

Wilbur quickly put his book down and swiftly made his way out the room.

Everything Tommy planned went out the window.

"Why didn't you want me to know you shifted?"

Tubbo paused, Tommy could see the cogs turning in his head. 

"Fundy told you...?"

"I kinda worked it out."

"Well... it's not a big deal..."

"Tubbo! It's a huge fucking deal, man!"

Tubbo moved his mouth to the side slightly, as though he was grimacing.

"That's not the reason... is it?" Tommy tilted his head.

"Wh- Well what else would it be?"

"I don't know! You're the one being fuckin' Mr Mysterious!"

Tubbo seemed to be avoiding eye contact with him.

"Look, I didn't think shifting was that big, end of story."

Tommy frowned.

"Do you not... trust me?" Tommy heard his voice break in this second half of the sentence but that was probably something to do with getting used to Tubbo's vocal cords. 

Tubbo finally looked at him.

"Tommy! Of course I trust you... I just..."

"You just?"

"I didn't want you feeling..." he seemed to pause to choose his words carefully, "disappointed..."

It clicked.

Tubbo didn't want Tommy to be jealous of him. 

"Well that's just... I can- I'd be fine, it's not about me."

"Tommy- I didn't mean it like that-"

For the second time that day, a knock on the front door echoed throughout the house, it was quickly answered. Both Tubbo and Tommy got up to listen from the living room.

"Hey Phil... I was just, uh, wondering, if I, uh, could talk to Tommy and Tubbo?" Dream's voice rang from the kitchen.

"Uh, yeah, sure mate." Phil answered before calling their names back into the house. "Why?"

"They, uh, just... well... they just want some tips on manhunt..."

"They're getting into manhunt?" Phil asked, a hint of concern lacing his voice, causing Dream to start backtracking.

"No! They just, uh, have... a general interest, you know?" Dream was fiddling with his hoodie strings nervously. 

"Yeah! It's cool." Tommy piped up as he stood next to Dream, trying to save him from acting like a fish out of water. Dream was terrifying sometimes, and other times he acted like this.

"Okay... come in then." Phil started to walk back into the kitchen, the trio all exchanged a look before they followed him.

They stood around for a few seconds, before Phil looked at them expectantly.

"You want a drink or anything?"

"I'm good." Dream replied, nodding awkwardly. Out of the corner of his eye, Tommy could see Wilbur desperately trying to stifle a laugh.

"You know, Dream, why don't we go to our room?" Tommy didn't give Dream time to reply before dragging him out the kitchen.

He could hear Wilbur snickering as they left.

"Do you know what they're up to?"

"Yeah."

"Can you tell me?"

"Nope."

He heard Phil let out a long sigh before the room fell silent again.

~~~

" _A week?!_ " 

"It's the best he can do."

"Dream, we don't-" Tommy paused as he let out a shaky laugh, "we don't have a week."

"Surely you can convince Wilbur to let you guys have a week?"

"I don't know... he seemed pretty certain about it." Tubbo flopped onto his bed as he replied. 

"What's the worst thing that happens if he tells Phil? You get a couple days off school?"

"I can't be off school! If my attendance drops any lower, they'll start putting me in break time detentions, and then I can't get my sausage on toast and you _know_ how much I love my sausage on toast." Tommy spoke all in one breath.

Tommy couldn't actually remember ever telling Dream about the break time sausages on toast but Dream nodded all the same, probably just used to Tommy's obsession with arbitrary things at this point.

"Right, so, you've gotta ask Wilbur and hope for the best."

"Yeah, that seems to be the case."

Tommy went over to the door and opened it. 

"Hey Wilbur! You want, uh, manhunt tips too?" 

He heard a sigh and the sound of a chair scraping against the floor.

"Keep trying, I'll be back in a sec." Wilbur spoke quietly as he came to the door. "What do you want?"

Tommy pulled him inside and shut the door.

"We need a week."

"A week?"

"Yeah that's the same reaction we had."

"Guys... I've already said..."

"We know! But come on, man," Tubbo stood up, "it's us, we literally share a room together, you think we can't pretend to be each other for a couple days?" 

Wilbur shifted his weight onto his other foot as he thought.

"It's risky, what if someone finds you out?"

"Wilbur, they're humans, they're... you know, dumb."

"Tommy, we're humans too."

"Yeah but we know shit and stuff."

"You're literally going to a human school to learn things they know."

Tubbo interrupted.

"I mean, Tommy's being an idiot but he has a point, even if we told someone directly I don't think they'd believe us." 

"That's true..." 

"So, you'll let us have a week?" Tommy asked hopefully.

"I'll think about it... well- how about this, if you can successfully convince me tomorrow that you can pretend to be each other, I won't tell."

Tommy held his breath hopefully, maybe they could actually get through this without too much trouble.

"Get some sleep." Wilbur added as he walked out the room.

Tommy turned to the other two.

"I have a plan."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hhhhhh this is kinda a filler chapter but i threw in some lore so it makes up for it


	5. Wilbur pov wooooo

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cw: slight mention of blood!!

Wilbur woke up slowly, and stared at the ceiling for a few minutes.

He couldn't believe those two.

No matter what they said, it was definitely their fault.

He should probably go check on them.

He swung his legs over the side of the bed and got up, walking down the corridor to knock on their door.

He heard Tommy shout "Come in!" Before he turned the doorhandle and walked into the room.

"Wilbur! Guess what! We're back!" Tommy shouted excitedly. 

"...Really?"

"Yeah! It must've just been a temporary thing." 

Wilbur felt a weight lift from his shoulders.

"That's great, I'm happy for you guys." 

"So uh, Phil doesn't need to know, right?"

Wilbur thought, he really didn't want to stress Phil out, especially with what was now happening with Techno...

"Fine, yeah, he doesn't need to know."

He saw both of them visibly relax.

"So, just to check, it wasn't your fault?"

"Wilbur!" They both yelled in response.

The beginning of the day went by pretty smoothly, with not much happening except usual Tommy and Tubbo antics. Wilbur smiled as he looked over his laptop to see them both shouting "Big T!" At each other. It was almost impossible to remember what the house was like without them. Probably a lot quieter. 

It was the afternoon when things started going wrong.

There was yet another knock at the door, Tommy answered it this time.

He opened to Big Q smiling widely and Karl next to him, practically bouncing on the spot.

"Tommy!"

"Big Q!"

"We finally got my power down, wanna help us test it out on mobs?" 

"Uhh," Tommy froze for a second, turning around to look at the other two. 

Tubbo immediately joined his side. "Can I come?"

"Of course Tubo, Wilbur, you wanna come too?" Quackity asked, looking over at him.

Wilbur thought for a moment.

"Are you going out the border?" 

Big Q nodded. 

"Then yeah, I'll come." Wilbur trusted Quackity and Karl, but if he got the chance to helicopter his brothers, he'd take it.

The five of them made their way through the grass fields slowly, with about three different conversations going on at once. Even though they were going to test out Quackity's power, Karl seemed more excited than anyone there.

After they were far enough away from the border, they started to set up a small fire as a main light source, and placed torches in a circle round the little camp they had. 

"Let's get chairs!" Karl shouted as he pulled a large rock over to the fire, and everyone else scrambled to find something to use. 

Wilbur saw Tommy race over to the nearest log, and immediately start struggling to pick it up. He sighed as he subtly helped, he swear he'd used his power to save Tommy's pride a lot more than anything else.

Not before long, everyone was sat down, taking it in turns prodding the fire to watch the sparks fly up into the darkening sky.

They watched as a couple mobs grew out of thin air, as though the dust itself had accumulated and mutated into the creatures that were now roaming around them.

"Okay, who's first on mob duty?" Quackity asked, looking around the group.

"I'll do it." Wilbur said as he threw his hand up. He was sure the boys were eager to see Big Q's power, so he was willing to let them have their fun first.

He stood up and walked to the edge of the circle of torches, starting to make his way round it's circumference. He watched the mobs carefully as he did so.

Behind him, he heard the boys laughing.

"Okay, do it now!" Tubbo demanded eagerly. 

"Okay okay, calm down Tubo." Quackity laughed as he walked to the edge, and called out to a zombie.

" _Come here_." He called out firmly, and Wilbur heard some grunting as the zombie presumably stumbled over to the group. Even from a distance, Wilbur felt the pull of his words, he was pretty sure Quackity was a lot more powerful than he gave himself credit for.

"Oh wow, what should I make it do?" Quackity asked the others.

"What have you always wanted someone to do for you, Big Q?" Tommy asked, Wilbur saw him circling the zombie out the corner of his eye.

" _Tell me you love me_." Quackity answered immediately, and the group fell into laughter, especially after the zombie followed it up by a series of indistinguishable grunts.

Wilbur scanned the area again, and realised he definitely hadn't been paying enough attention, as a creeper was stalking towards him. 

"Shit!" He tried to push it away with telekinesis but it was already too close, he threw up his hands to shield himself from the blast.

He felt a hand on his arm, and then heard nothing but echoing silence.

He opened his eyes, and saw Karl next to him, with a shimmery orb surrounding them both.

He let out a shaky sigh of relief, and the orb fizzled away.

"Thanks Karl."

"Anytime, are you okay?" 

"Yeah, I'm just... I'm way too tired to be doing this right now." Wilbur rubbed his head.

"That's fair, do you wanna sit down and I'll go next?"

"I can go next." Tommy spoke up. Everyone stared at him.

Tommy rarely volunteered, first because he was never one to miss out on the action, second because he'd never even had the slightest hint of a power.

But Wilbur assumed it was probably fine, Tommy didn't have to actually fight anything, he could just tell them if something was coming too close.

He had to trust his brothers at some point, right?

Wilbur dragged a stick through the mud for a while, as the other three laughed and messed around with more mobs, before Quackity turned to Tubbo like he'd just remembered something.

"Tubo, I heard from Fundy you can shift now, right?" 

Wilbur saw his little brother freeze.

"Well uh, yeah, I can..." 

"That's so cool! Show us!" Quackity spoke excitedly as Tubbo fiddled with the hem of his shirt, maybe he picked up that habit from Tommy.

"Well I just- Well..."

As much as Wilbur didn't want to pressure Tubbo, he was also really curious about Tubbo's shifting, as he rarely seemed to talk about it.

"Why not?" Karl asked, confusion written over his face.

"Well... the thing is..."

It all happened too fast for Wilbur to register.

First he heard the unmistakable sound of bones grinding against each other, and then a " _woosh_ " And then a sight which made his heart stop.

Karl stumbled backwards, an arrow erupting out of his chest, causing a trickle of blood to run down his hoodie, he mouthed wordlessly with wide, frightened eyes before he collapsed onto the ground, Quackity barely just catching him. 

Wilbur spun around to see Tommy staring at the scene, paying no attention to the skeleton behind him who was loading another arrow into it's bow.

He dashed foward and pushed Tommy out the way before he unsheathed his sword and sliced off the skeleton head in one swift movement.

Wilbur looked back over at Karl, who was limp on the ground as Quackity shook him gently with desperation.

Tommy hadn't been paying attention, he'd been staring at Tubbo. 

And Wilbur suddenly knew why.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> when you introduce one of your favourite comfort streamers and then shoot him in the same chapter :)


	6. You thought last chapter was bad?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another blood warning!! :)

Wilbur took action immediately. 

"Tubbo and Big Q, run ahead and get Niki and Phil, Tommy, help me with Karl." He ordered as he sheathed his sword and knelt down next to Karl, examining the arrow. The blood stain on his hoodie was growing bigger and bigger, turning the purple into a deep maroon. 

Big Q looked hesitant to leave, but eventually ran after Tubbo, heading back to the smp.

Wilbur carefully looped his arm under Karl's shoulder, trying his best not to disturb the arrow, he saw Tommy- or Tubbo now that he thought about it, copy his movements exactly. 

Of course they hadn't fucking switched back, he was an idiot.

They slowly lifted Karl up, gently shuffling him along, they saw him wince in pain a couple times, but mostly he stayed unconscious.

After a while of slow movements, they saw a cluster of houses come into view.

"Let's take him to the dream team, it's closest." Wilbur looked at Tubbo over Karl's drooped head, who nodded in response.

Eventually they got to the house, and Wilbur kicked the door a couple times with his foot, it wasn't long before it opened.

"What- holy shit!" Sapnap stood at the door, staring at the sight in front of him, he moved aside to let them drag Karl into the house. 

"What happened?" 

"Skeleton, out in the field." Wilbur answered as he and Tubbo laid Karl down on the nearest couch.

"What? How? Who was keeping watch?" Sapnap took an angry step towards them, out of the corner of his eye Wilbur saw Tubbo instinctively step behind him. 

"It was no one's fault, we just need to get Niki here, Big Q and Tommy have gone to get her and Phil."

"Tommy's right there?"

"Right, Tubbo." Wilbur lied as he placed a hand on the bridge of his nose, not willing to explain their whole situation at that current moment.

"Speaking of, Tommy, go stand outside so they know where we are." Tubbo nodded and ran outside.

Wilbur knelt down next to Karl for a second time.

"We should probably cut off the hoodie before Niki gets here." Wilbur thought aloud.

"You can't! It's his favourite hoodie!" Sapnap complained loudly as he walked over.

"Well I'm pretty sure another one of his favourite things is being alive, Sapnap!" 

From the commotion, both Dream and George walked out of their respective rooms. 

There was a moment of silence as they both stared at the scene.

"What happened?!" Dream demanded as he ran forward.

"Wilbur let Karl get shot." 

"It was an accident! It was nobody's fault!" 

Niki burst into the room with Big Q, Tommy, Tubbo, and Phil behind her, Wilbur felt himself physically relax.

In an instant, she was at his side, examining the wound. 

"We'll have to remove the clothing first, and then we can see how deep the arrow is." She spoke softly, yet her words made everyone jump into action.

First Sapnap was at her side with scissors, and Wilbur glared at him for listening to her and not him, then Dream had the first aid kit at the ready in front of her.

The whole room watched as she cut through the hoodie, through her movements, it was clear she'd done this many times before.

"It's shallow enough to pull back out, someone get me a pad to stop the bleeding." 

In an instant, Dream had a white pad of cotton in his hand. Niki firmly grabbed the end of the arrow, having the pad at the ready.

"Three, two, one..."

Wilbur suddenly grabbed Tommy and Tubbo and pulled them away from the scene. They may be teenagers, but he didn't want them seeing that. 

He pulled them into Dream's room, and closed the door.

"Wilbur, we're 16, we can see blood you know." 'Tubbo' said, crossing his arms.

"Speak for yourself." 'Tommy' responded, looking rather pale.

"Listen, I know you didn't fucking switch back and now Karl's hurt because of it." 

Both of them looked at the ground guiltily.

"We don't, uh, know what you're talking about." Tommy looked at him nervously, knowing Wilbur saw right through him.

"Tommy, come on, we don't have time for that."

"Yeah okay..." Tommy muttered resignedly. 

"We just thought if we could convince you we were actually each other, you'd let us go to school..." Tubbo piped up.

"Well, that backfired, didn't it?"

Both of them nodded, trying their best to avoid eye-contact. 

Wilbur thought, looking between the two boys. 

"Guys- I have to tell Phil."

He saw both sets of eyes widen in panic.

"Wait! Nonono we can sort this out, yeah?" Tommy pleaded, gesturing almost wildly. 

"It's been long enough."

"But we'll get into trouble if he knows now!"

"You can't hide it from him forever!" 

"...Why not?"

Wilbur sighed. 

"It's Phil, you know he'll find out eventually..." 

"Not necessarily..." It was now Tubbo's turn to mutter.

"So, that's your plan then? Just try to pretend like nothing’s wrong forever?"

"Not forever... just a week... besides, we're so good at pretending to be each other." Tommy said, almost boastingly.

"This is the only time you've done it though." Wilbur reasoned.

"Yeah... but technically that means we have a 100% success rate." Tubbo added.

Wilbur thought.

"Look, I'm gonna make this decision, and it's probably a very dumb decision but... I'm gonna trust you guys." 

Both of them relaxed slightly.

"But! You have one week, and one week only. And no more lying to me." 

They nodded and he ran a hand through his hair, taking a deep breath.

For the second time that night he heard a woosh, but this time, he was already on high alert. 

He snapped towards the sound and using everything he had, he forced the arrow to stop. 

It stopped about two inches from Tubbo's face. Tommy saw it in front of him, paused to resister what happened, and then screamed at the top of his lungs. 

The door burst open and Phil ran into the room, clearly working off of dad instincts alone. 

Before Wilbur could react, he saw another arrow flying towards his chest, before a wall of feathers flew in front of him, covering his entire body. He heard the arrow clatter on the floor.

He jumped into action, pushing Tommy and Tubbo behind him before peering over Phil's wing to see him closing the window. 

Outside, the shadow of a skeleton drew back it's bow again, it's bones grinding together as it tilted it's skull shakily in order to get the right angle. 

Phil folded his wings back in as the skeleton shot the window and the arrow bounced right off.

The whole team was in the room by now, all staring at the skeleton in shock.

It had been three years since any mob set foot on their land. Three years of peace. 

Wilbur guessed this was chaos.

"What's happening?" He took a step forward towards his dad, as though that would help with Tommy and Tubbo not hearing.

Phil's wide eyes were fixed on the skeleton, watching it intently.

The group seemed to realise collectively it wasn't just the skeleton.

Multiple other mobs wandered around the building, shuffling and groaning softly. 

Something clicked.

"It's Karl." Phil stated as he turned round to the group. They stared back at him blankly. "The border is technically a forcefield, so because he's hurt-"

"-The border isn't working." Dream finished for him, reality dawning on him and the rest of the group simultaneously.

There was a moment of silence.

Phil suddenly sprung into action, speaking quickly.

"Okay, first we need to contact everyone, and organise teams to take out the mobs that are already here, next we need to work on a rota in order to protect the border until Niki heals Karl. If we do this right, it'll be like nothing ever happened." He turned to Wilbur. "Take the boys home, and make sure they stay there." 

Wilbur nodded and waved his hand towards Tommy and Tubbo as a signal for them to follow him. As they walked outside he took a deep breath and looked around, scanning the area.

It looked relatively clear, and so they quick-walked home, getting inside and practically slamming the door shut. 

Wilbur leaned against the door, his heartbeat in his ears.

"Go close any windows." He ordered, starting to feel a pit in his stomach. 

How did it turn into this?

~~~

Wilbur stood on the east side of the border, the cold whipping through his hair as the first streaks of sunlight snuck across the sky. He rubbed his hands together to try and create some warmth through friction. He'd only been on his shift for ten minutes, after Phil had insisted he rest first, but he was already freezing. 

At least the cold was helping keeping him awake.

He heard something click nearby, and snapped his head to the left.

A ginormous spider scuttled along the ground towards him, it’s beady eyes glinting menacingly.

Wilbur pulled out his sword and took on a defensive stance. 

He let the spider take the first strike, before he darted out of the way and the monster got a mouthful of dirt. He went to stab its shiny back, before it quickly swivelled around and lunged at him. 

Ducking, he thrust the sword tip into the spider's underside.

With it's dying breath, it snapped its pincers at him, grazing his cheek before he used telekinesis to stop it happening again. 

The spider went still, and Wilbur shook it off his sword, wiping it down on the grass. He gently touched the cut on his cheek, it was bleeding, but not deep, it probably wouldn't scar, especially with Niki's help.

He thought about whether she'd even have the time and energy between healing Karl. 

Tommy and Tubbo really fucked up this time.

Wilbur brushed his hand on his jeans and got back into position.

He hoped he was making the right decision.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ty for all the comments on the last chapter!!


	7. They can do this. Maybe.

Tommy woke up and sat up immediately, yanking some of his hair forward and staring at it.

Brown strands slipped between his fingers.

He sighed, he was still Tubbo for today.

He turned off his alarm and glanced across the room, seeing Tubbo still fast asleep. Tommy really hoped having Tubbo in his body didn't mess up his internal body clock, since his brother didn't seem to have even the slightest semblance of a sleep schedule. 

He got up and stretched, before throwing his pillow at Tubbo, who jumped awake and glared at him, before having the same moment of realisation that Tommy had seconds earlier. 

"So..." Tubbo began, his voice still incredibly croaky. "We're going to school."

Tommy nodded, rubbing his eyes. 

"Do you think it'll be weird?" Tubbo asked, from across the room, Tommy could see the worry in his expression.

"Well- no... no I think it'll be okay." 

Tommy did not think it would be okay. 

~~~

It wasn't long until they were both up and ready to go, saying bye to Phil as they walked out the door, getting a acknowledging nod from Wilbur as they went. 

It'd been really very weird to do their morning routine, except as Tubbo instead, and watching himself do his own. It almost felt like they were trying to gaslight themselves into switching back, as though that was possible.

They walked down the natural-worn path to the portal room, one part of their routine that hadn't changed in years. The walk really wasn't far, which made sense, seeing as the smp wasn't too big. Plus Phil had asked for their house to be close, since they all went through the portals so much. 

As they went, they caught Sapnap on the way back home from having the night shift, looking a little worse for wear, but he still gave them a small salute as he walked by. Tommy returned it with a nod, and saw Tubbo look at the ground out of the corner of his eye.

After Sapnap was gone, Tommy narrowed his eyes at Tubbo.

"You okay?" 

"What? Oh, yeah yeah, I'm fine... I just- never mind." 

"Tubbo. Come on, what's wrong, man?" 

Tubbo took a deep breath. 

"I just- it's my fault that's Karl's hurt... and now everyone else is getting hurt and I- I feel... bad... about it." 

Tommy felt himself deflate a little. Of course Tubbo would've been worried about that, he should've noticed it sooner. 

"Tubbo, it was a simple mistake, anyone could've made it."

"But they didn't, I did." 

"Everything was happening at once, plus you were already on edge from that creeper, I really wouldn't worry about it..." Tommy trailed off, hoping he was helping in some way. 

Tubbo shrugged as they arrived at the portal room.

Tommy had seen the portal room entrance many times, but it always seemed to grow more impressive. 

He looked up at the purple brick covering of the entrance, being held up by two large pillars, as a huge set of marble stairs descended into the ground below. It reminded Tommy of those train stations he'd see in the human world, when he was in there for long enough.

As a kid, he remembered he and Tubbo mostly using it as a hideout when it started to rain, as they could have shelter and also annoy whoever was walking past through the area. He stifled a laugh as he remembered how they sometimes saw people visibly sigh when they saw the two boys sitting on the steps.

The sound of their footsteps echoed throughout the hallway as they walked downwards. Tommy glanced over the runes etched into the walls, he'd seen them a million times, yet they were still fascinating somehow.

They got to the bottom of the staircase and looked up, seeing a purple glow envelop them. Rows of dark obsidian rectangles covered the walls, going on for as far as the eye could see. Purple sparks occasionally swirled out of each portal, and for a split second, Tommy could just about see what was on the other side. The flooring and walls were also made up of purple brick, and occasionally between the portals, iron staircases stood stiffly as a way to get up to the higher platforms.

They spotted Callahan in the corner, sitting on a chair, looking tired. They knew he got up early to man the portals, but the guy seemed really drained sometimes.

Callahan nodded to them, and they said their thanks back, before they stepped through the only portal they were allowed through.

Tommy closed his eyes, he felt his head spin and adrenaline rush through him, as though he was weightless for a second, before a hand grabbed his arm and pulled him forward, his feet finding solid ground again. It took a moment before he could open his eyes, since his head was still swirling, but eventually he blinked them open and the hand let go.

He turned and saw the same thing happen to Tubbo, before he looked around the room, deciding nothing much had changed since he was here last. 

Posters lined the walls, there was a computer desk in the corner with a couch next to it, it seemed to be a completely normal human room, apart from the fact that there was a huge obsidian portal in the middle of it. 

And, as always, Sam stood in the middle, his hand still on Tubbo's arm as he adjusted himself to the new world he was in.

Once Tubbo had also opened his eyes, Sam turned around and handed them each what appeared to be an apple, however instead of being red, it was a bright gold. 

Tommy bit into it, immediately feeling his head settle, and his stomach stop doing flips. 

"Thanks, Sam."

"No problem, you two doing okay?"

Over their apples, Tommy and Tubbo shared a look.

"Yeah, we're okay." Tubbo answered for the both of them.

"That's good, you know if anyone else is coming through today?"

"I don't think so." Sam looked over at Tommy as he spoke, and Tommy suddenly realised the height difference all over again. He knew Tubbo was small, but compared to Sam, he was fucking tiny. 

"Well, we don't wanna be late." Tommy said loudly, before making a beeline for the door, wanting to get away from the tallest person they knew as soon as possible. 

He turned around to see it was now Tubbo and Sam sharing a look, and he didn't like being on the receiving end. He felt his face go slightly red.

"Yeah okay, thanks Sam!" Tubbo called as he and Tommy walked out the door and straight to the apartment building staircase. "What was that?"

"What was what?"

"Usually you try and stall for time at Sam's, what happened?"

Tommy sighed, he didn't like keeping things from Tubbo, and by all means, Tubbo was literally the only one who might understand.

"Sam... he's just- he's tall."

He saw Tubbo's face widen in realisation, before bitting his lip to stop himself from laughing. 

"You can laugh if you want." Tommy grumbled as they got to the bottom of the stairs and he pushed the door open.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, it's just, well... welcome to my world." 

"Literally." Tommy rolled his eyes, but he was also laughing slightly at this point.

They carried on walking, and it wasn't long until they arrived at the school building. Tommy glanced at the passing crowds of people as they walked in, fiddling with his untucked shirt.

He and Tubbo looked at each other, they could do this, right?

~~~

If it was weird doing their morning routine as Tubbo, it was even weirder walking into the school building as him. If it wasn't the height difference that was making him uncomfortable, it was the person he didn't know who randomly waved at him, or the way he had to go look for Tubbo's locker, scanning the numbers at the top as though it was his first day here.

They met back up as soon as possible, and made a silent agreement to stick together as much as they could. 

They could do this. He hoped.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this before Sam's face/height reveal but canonically he's still 6'7 I don't make the rules

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!! Any comments will be really appreciated <3


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